Defraging raid array

[mobiux]

Here's the background...
File server connected to fc san, allocated 4 - 200 GB partitions, all 4 are combined into one 800 gb dynamic disk.

How much benefit would defraging the dymanic disk give since there is so many layers of disk setups, would it prove a benefit or not be worth the time to defrag the volume?

Also, what are some general practices when it comes to defraging file servers, do you guys do it every week/month/quarterly.
How do you schedule that since i am sure it takes a while?

 

[unhappy_mage]

I don't - for streaming media (my application) it's not worth defragging. If speed is actually a concern, go for it; what is this being used for?

 

[mobiux]

file server for about 350 clients. using thin client so constantly accessing files.
i didn't know if raid reduced or eliminated the need for defragmenting.

 

[unhappy_mage]

Are they in raid 0 or concatenated? If they're concatenated, defragging will probably help; with raid 0 it's more questionable. Run it when nobody is using it, though, and it can't hurt.

You might want to consider raid 1 if your data set is sufficiently small. That'd allow reads to happen concurrently more easily. Any idea what your read/write proportion is like?